Keeping Track of Your Health

I have been putting on way too much weight recently. So I thought it was about time to keep track on my daily lifestyle and also my food intake. Luckily for me, I have my Samsung Galaxy S4, so I could make use of the S Health app. The only thing I find a pain doing is calculating calories. Sigh. That is really, really troublesome.

Anyway, with S Health, there are a few categories.. so many but I only use 2 main ones which is the Walking Mate and the Food Tracker. I have yet to use the Exercise Mate since I have not started any running yet due to my wonky ankle that keeps hurting every now and then. Walking Mate basically calculates the steps you take per day. As most of us can attest to, we tend to carry our phones everywhere. So while your S4 is with you, the app will automatically calculate every step you take.

The S Health app has a setting where you enter your profile such as height and weight, male or female and the activity type you do weekly. Then it automatically calculates for you the amount of calories and steps you need to take in order to MAINTAIN your current weight. If you intend to lose, you need to just do more exercise and take in less calories.

I have to say for the Walking Mate, I have to sort of estimate the number of steps per day as sometimes I don’t carry my phone around the house. If only I have the Galaxy Gear that can sync with my S4. Currently Galaxy Gear can only be used with the Note 3. Thankfully the S Health app has a widget that can be placed on your home screen to keep track of your steps, so you don’t have to keep on opening the app.

As for the Food Tracker, basically it is a calorie counter. You enter all your meals in it and yes, this take discipline, and sometimes a little more work than usual. Thankfully, there are already many types of food and its matching calorie in the app’s database. However, there are times when you need to find out for yourself the amount of calorie for foods that aren’t so common.

Once you have entered it once in the “Custom” tab, it will be saved in the database so you can use it again next time. Frankly, I am using this as a general calculator as I think calculating every little calorie is just too much trouble. The S Health app makes it easier though. So what I do is I make sure I eat lesser than my recommended calorie intake.

If you have a blood glucose or blood pressure machine in your home, then you can use these categories in the app to keep track of its levels. For a quick look at your current status, you can just use the Health Board.

Oh, and the Comfort Level category in the app basically calculates your temperature as you hold your S4, and compare it with the surrounding temperature and humidity to let you know whether you are in a comfortable state of temperature or not.. if what I am saying makes sense. Haha.

Anyway, do try out this app. It is pretty helpful if you want to keep a better eye on your health, weight and calories.